Signs of encouragement?

I'm waiting until the last second to publish my weekly Spartan dispatch. The Cubs' World Series championship and this train wreck of a presidential campaign have dominated my attention.

I did take time early this week to watch the BTN replay of the Michigan game. Count me as one of the "sunshine blowers" who was encouraged by how MSU played. I didn't expect the Spartans to rack up 217 rushing yards against one of the nation's best defense (or allegedly one of the best). For the second week in a row, MSU's offense, and in particular its running attack, looked fairly efficient.

The defense, on the other hand, still has issues. Though it limited Michigan to three points in the second half (the bizarre 2-point conversion return for a touchdown doesn't count against the defense), the Spartans couldn't stop Michigan in the first half. They got little pressure on Speith, but even when they did he came through with some great on-target throws. There's not much even the best defenses can do when a quarterback reacts well to pressure.

Like most other fans, I was disappointed in some incredibly vanilla playcalling in the red zone. I don't know why Dave Warner/Mark Dantonio didn't at least try some deception. Josiah Price is one of the conference's best tight ends who has delivered big plays time and time again since 2013 and he was never utilized.

But all-in-all, it was an encouraging performance. If the Spartans can bring just 75 percent of the focus they had against Michigan, they should beat Illinois today by two touchdowns.

So even though my predictions have been terrible this season, I'll call this game: MSU 31, Illinois 17.

A Michigan week with no sizzle

As usual, I meant to get around to this post earlier, but no such luck.

It's Michigan week, and I don't remember a Michigan week with less sizzle since 2006.

We have a 2-5 (0-4 Big Ten) MSU team up against a 7-0 (4-0 Big Ten) Michigan. Two teams headed in opposite directions. One team in seeming disarray and the other playing for a possible Big Ten title and football playoff berth. We MSU fans have become accustomed in recent years to OUR team playing for high stakes and UM playing for scraps.

I don't want to say the Spartans have no shot today, because of course they have a shot. But realistically it's a LONG shot. Much will need to go right for the Spartans to win, and as we know not much has gone right for MSU this season. Even if MSU gets some breaks (recovered turnovers, maybe a pick six, possibly connect on a big pass play to Shelton or Corley) I just don't know if MSU can get enough throughout a 60-minute game.

Maybe MSU's best chance is psychological. UM's seniors have never beaten the Spartans, so perhaps that's in their heads. But I find that hard to believe. The Wolverines have been stewing for a year and change over last year's stunning loss, and with the way they are playing this season they must be brimming with confidence. (We can always hope that they're even a little over confident).

Based on what I've seen from MSU this season, even if they play their best game of the season I don't know if it'll be enough to win. This is a team with an offensive line that struggles to protect the quarterback, struggles to run block, and a defense that can't get a pass rush without blitzing and can't get off the field on third down. Compounding that are the often head-scratching mental mistakes they make.

I hate to do this, and I hope I am wrong, but I will call this one: Michigan 38, MSU 10.

Does this Spartan football team even have a pulse?

Another week, another disappointing loss. The Spartans get shot down by Northwestern, 54-40.

Once again, this was a game that demonstrated that Michigan State is weak in almost every facet of the game. They have an offensive line that can neither run block nor pass protect with any consistency (Exhibit A: Freshman quarterback Brian Lewerke getting hammered at the goal line for a safety). They have a defense that cannot get off the field, and cannot seem to ever get a third down stop. This is a team that is capable of getting off to a quick start, but completely incapable of maintaining a lead.

I really don't know what to add to this. What more is there to say about a season that feels like it has gone completely off the rails?

At this point, I'm really not sure how much I'll be tuning in to the MSU football season. I watched the Indiana, BYU, and Northwestern games in their entirety and I don't consider it as time particularly well spent. There's a strong possibility I'll be bailing on the Maryland game. Who knows, maybe me not watching will be a good thing for the Spartans.

Can this football season be salvaged?

I went to the MSU/BYU game on Saturday, extending my streak of attending at least one MSU football game per season to 24 years. The way this game went, it may be my last MSU football game of the season. I don't know if I want to witness football played this poorly.

For the good news: The weather was glorious, with mostly sunny skies and game time temperature above 60 degrees and actually feeling much warmer in the sun-drenched bleachers of the north end zone. As usual, the Spartan Marching Band was in excellent form and at least in the beginning the day was everything that is wonderful about college football.

Even the game seemed to go well in the early going, with the Spartans mixing passing with running to deliver a long drive capped off with a touchdown. Even though the rest of the first half was a snooze, it was at least reassuring that the defense had kept BYU out of the end zone and the Spartans maintained a 7-3 lead.

Then the bottom fell out.

The Spartans struggle in every single facet of the game. The offensive line can't block, the quarterbacks struggle to make plays and lead the team (no doubt not helped by the offensive line's struggles), the defense can't get off the field on third down, the kicking game (particularly field goal kicking) is inconsistent at best, and to top it all off the offensive coordinator inexplicably abandons the passing game after the first drive of the game.

There are years when a team can mask one or two deficiencies by excelling above average in other areas. In 2012, MSU's excellent defense compensated--to at least a small degree--for its anemic offense and the team finished at 7-6. Last season's high-powered offense made up for a sometimes spotty defense and dodgy special teams to lead the team to a college playoff berth.

This year, it seems that the Spartan football team excels at nothing, and the result has been a three-game losing streak and 2-3 record.

Based on what I saw Saturday, I don't where or when MSU will win again. Northwestern is at least on a par with BYU, so that game will most likely be a struggle, and Maryland on the road looks like a loss. I definitely do not see the Spartans beating Michigan. If I'm being completely honest, with the way this MSU team is playing now, I only see two games remaining on the schedule that the Spartans can and should beat: Illinois and Rutgers. That means that, barring some kind of miraculous improvement, the Spartans are looking squarely at a 4-8 season.

Someone may need to wake me up when basketball season starts.

Football seaon excitement may NEVER hit me

Last night's MSU/Indiana game was simply terrible. So bad, in fact, that I don't even know where to start.

Stupid penalties kill this team in a way I haven't seen since the John L. Smith era, although we may have seen it in 2009 as well. Perhaps the most glaring was a "leaping" penalty on Indiana's first field goal attempt in overtime. Some on message boards felt it was an obscure penalty that may have been mis-applied in this case, but it was the icing on the cake of what was a mistake-filled, uninspired MSU performance.

The only time MSU had any fire under its collective butt was when they were down 21-14. They  finally ran the ball with some aggression and sense of purpose, with Gerald Holmes looking much better than a somewhat listless L.J. Scott.

Then there's Tyler O'Connor. He looks like Andrew Maxwell with mobility. There is little touch on his throws, and I don't sense much in the way of leadership on the field. Although he wasn't necessarily bad last night, he just seems to lack something. Perhaps I/we were spoiled by by Connor Cook more than we even imagined.

I don't know if it has to do with youth, injuries, complacency, lack of leadership, but this entire Spartan football team has taken several steps down this season. I expected a dip this season, but certainly didn't anticipate such a precipitous downturn.

Added to the unease is the great start for that school down the road. Michigan State fans will need to buck up and listen to a lot of boasting and chest-thumping from the blue-and-yellow clad hordes.

My conclusion: It looks like a long year for Spartan football.

Football season excitement hasn't hit me

I'm having a hard time getting into football season this year, and thus the blog has suffered as a result.

Maybe it's because I don't like the way I've fallen so deeply down the rabbit hole in the past, at the expense of other interests and activities, and am trying to avoid that because it's not healthy.

Another aspect of my disinterest is the MSU football team itself. They are an enigma and hard to get excited about so far. The Wisconsin game was a complete disaster. There's no way to sugarcoat it. The worst home loss in almost seven years.

Does anyone have any idea what to expect tonight against Indiana? My fear is that the Hoosiers are due to win the Old Brass Spittoon one of these days and the Spartans could be vulnerable enough to comply. On the other hand, MSU could come out angry and ready to make up for last week's horror.

On (to) Wisconsin

I've been seriously negligent towards this blog so far this football season.

When will I, or anyone else for that matter, stop doubting Dantonio or MSU before a big game?

In fairness, nobody knew quite what to expect from the Spartans after the completely "meh" Furman game, but as I wrote in my last post, Dantonio likes it that way. Why would MSU want to go all out against Furman when they don't have to, and show its hand to Notre Dame?

So the Spartans went out and steamrolled the Irish for three quarters, before letting up a bit on the gas pedal and making the game somewhat close. However, when the Spartans absolutely needed to make plays to seal the victory, they did so.

Of course, we still don't know exactly how good Notre Dame is. But the fact remains: any time a team plays and defeats the Irish in a night game under the outstretched arms of Touchdown Jesus, it is a big win.

In a little over an hour from now, MSU opens up Big Ten play against Wisconsin, another team that is difficult to get a read on. On one hand, the Badgers beat LSU, on the other hand they struggled a bit with Georgia State last week--and the Badgers start a redshirt freshman quarterback today.

If this game goes according to almost every other Michigan State/ Wisconsin game, it'll be decided by less that ten points either way.

I'll go ahead and pick the Spartans to win, 24-17.